A question for Sub fans.

SHINOBI-03 · Post by **SHINOBI-03** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 3:21 am

My first anime DVDs were GT vol. 1 and DBZ Movie 8.

At that time, I thought what ever is said in the dub is the same in Japanese and didn't bother to switch the tracks. ((I wasn't even aware of different dub tracks at that time))

And when I gave it a try and switched to the Japanese track, my jaw fell to the floor and my eyes went out of my head the moment I saw the original opening theme of GT!!! I liked it instently and felt like I've discovered a hidden treasure under the toilet seat!! And after the opening, again, I was shoked to see the differences between the tracks!!

The music was much better, the voices were different, and the script, oh the script... they were taking everything seriously when it's needed! No cheesy dialouge like "But I warn you, I used to practice the art of self defence!" and "Why living creatures loves to die under the sun?!" and talky talky talky all the time!

And after that of course, I poped in the movie and watched it in Japanese, and it's the same thing!! The music, the voices, AND A WONDERFUL SCRIPT!!

And from here on, I would not accept any anime dub-only! If there's a Japanese track avilable, I'm all for it. Exept when the dub is everything available in the market, and when it's done perfectly like ADV's Azumanga Daioh or Ocean's first three movies... or when it's just for laughs like the British dub of the movies.

In conclusion... if you want a to give someone a good impresion about the vast difference between the dub and the original... make him watch GT in both tracks, and let him decide for himself.

caejones · Post by **caejones** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 11:25 am

SHINOBI03 wrote:In conclusion... if you want a to give someone a good impresion about the vast difference between the dub and the original... make him watch GT in both tracks, and let him decide for himself.

There was no 'making' involved. XD. My cousin (I don't remember if he was nine or ten at the time) was bored and playing with the language settings, and quite instantly became a huge DanDan fan, having only been exposed to the dub and the occasional Japanese voices on video games. He also got in the habbit of switching tracks on Movie13 (Particularly for the music).
Script-wise? I... think that'll have to wait until we have more bilingual DVDs (Yay Dragonbox + Christmas?).

I kinda think I appreciate the original more if I see it before the dubbed version; my limited Japanese was enough to get me through movie10 in Japanese, and when I eventually got to the FUNi version, the difference in tone couldn't have been more obvious.
Actually, I now want to watch movies 5 and 9 in Japanese (Maybe 8 too). That "Music Video + voices" feeling in the FUNi versions makes it easy to stop paying attention during the action sequences...
(Which is kinda what the Japanese insert song did for me at the end of the Negamoon Diamond-people arc in Sailor Moon, as I recall... though I was generally dissatisfied with how that ended, I think...)

So... umm... yeah. I guess I'll have a more real answer if I ever get the rest of the series in Japanese.

.:PoetikaL:. · Post by **.:PoetikaL:.** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 11:34 am

Let's see, I got my first Dragonball DVD back in 2002, I got one of the Fusion Saga's single disc. I watched the dub all the time, never considered the Japanese version. At one point I switched over and watched the Japanese version of the 3 episodes, and I actually enjoyed it much more than the dub. I continued to buy some of the movies and was satisfied with the dub still. When the FUNimation Season Sets came out... I didn't even know about them, I was just at a Best Buy and I saw them and I was extremely happy. I read that it had the original Jap. audio over the Dub, yes I was one of those people. When I watched them... I was once again happy. Then I started playing with the subtitles, and that's where it I started to change... at this point I I had all 9 sets, and around July I started to watch just the Japanese version only. I finally understood the changes when I switched over audio, and now I'm strictly Japanese only for DBZ. I still listen to dub parts here and there to see differences, only because I didn't watch all the episodes in Jap. (The Dragonbox will do that justice for me.) So yeah, that's my story.

Gaffer Tape · Post by **Gaffer Tape** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 11:55 pm

Hmm. I think this would be the perfect first post for me (aside from my official introduction in the introduction board).

I first found Dragon Ball when DBZ first aired on Toonami in the fall of '98 when I was 12 and immediately became hooked. Obviously what nostalgia I have lies with the Ocean Group dub. Originally I assumed for some reason that the episode immediately after the last one that they aired ("Goku... Super Saiyan...?" was the name, I believe) was the last episode. That somehow, in the span of that one half hour block, Goku defeated the Ginyu Tokusentai and Freeza, and all the plot threads were resolved.

My first interaction with the Japanese side was really unknown to me at the time. It was the airing of the first two movies on Toonami the following spring. I had no idea of the music being changed at that time: all I knew was that whatever was present in those movies were amazing!

Season 3 began airing, and although less material was censored, I was aghast at the horrible new music and voice cast. My internet searching picked up in the spring of 2000 when my family got a new computer. I had just turned 14, and that was when I found Planet Namek, Daizenshuu EX, Ginga Giri Giri, and, probably most important for me of all, DBZ Uncensored. It was through all these sites that I began to figure out what was wrong with FUNimation's dub. I went out and bought Pioneer's subbed VHS of Movie 3 and never looked back. I began getting fansubs, and, when they began releasing them, FUNimation's bilingual discs.

As for the dub, I had recorded every episode off TV and continued to do so even after I got into the original version, although with season 4, I began labeling them as "Dragon Ball Z US Dub" to make it clear that it wasn't the "real" thing. But the dub annoyed me more than anything else, and, after season 4, I discontinued watching it.

obiwan23s · Post by **obiwan23s** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 3:25 am

Before FUNimation took exclusively took over the dub of Dragon Ball Z, there was a rather annoying trend on Toonami where DBZ would get to where Goku landed on Namek and then start over with Raditz the next day. After two or three cycles of this happening, I joined the online Z community, and on the DB3K.com forum, there was a link to a site which hosted direct downloads for every subbed Z episode in RealPlayer format. I was able get all of these and enjoy the remainder of the show, although in much more shoddy quality than modern fansubs have. This was pretty much the end of me caring about the Z dub.

When new episodes began airing on TV, I paid attention to them for a few weeks, mostly because like everyone else I was curious how the new actors would voice the characters. It was sadly apparent from the beginning that the new dub was just a mimic job of the old one, and by then I had seen Z to its conclusion so I really didn't care.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 3:29 am

obiwan23s wrote:Before FUNimation took exclusively took over the dub of Dragon Ball Z, there was a rather annoying trend on Toonami where DBZ would get to where Goku landed on Namek and then start over with Raditz the next day. After two or three cycles of this happening, I joined the online Z community, and on the DB3K.com forum, there was a link to a site which hosted direct downloads for every subbed Z episode in RealPlayer format. I was able get all of these and enjoy the remainder of the show, although in much more shoddy quality than modern fansubs have. This was pretty much the end of me caring about the Z dub.

I must'a been the only kid on the online block who didn't know about this. You can blame my manga elitism on my ignorance of this website.

caejones · Post by **caejones** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 1:55 pm

Kendamu wrote:
obiwan23s wrote:Before FUNimation took exclusively took over the dub of Dragon Ball Z, there was a rather annoying trend on Toonami where DBZ would get to where Goku landed on Namek and then start over with Raditz the next day. After two or three cycles of this happening, I joined the online Z community, and on the DB3K.com forum, there was a link to a site which hosted direct downloads for every subbed Z episode in RealPlayer format. I was able get all of these and enjoy the remainder of the show, although in much more shoddy quality than modern fansubs have. This was pretty much the end of me caring about the Z dub.
I must'a been the only kid on the online block who didn't know about this. You can blame my manga elitism on my ignorance of this website.

For I-don't-remember-why, I did search for "watch Dragon Ball Z" once, and found a fanfiction site instead. And... umm... I've been there ever since. ^_^

The Time Traveller · Post by **The Time Traveller** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 2:14 pm

I remember looking for DBZ clips when I was younger, all I found was Quicktime videos that took FOREVER to load and RealTime videos of Goku being punched in the balls, and I thought his high pitch voice was from that...

Khalid Shahin · Post by **Khalid Shahin** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 2:26 pm

The Time Traveller wrote:I remember looking for DBZ clips when I was younger, all I found was Quicktime videos that took FOREVER to load and RealTime videos of Goku being punched in the balls, and I thought his high pitch voice was from that...

Wow. Now that's something funny. Did you post this in the old Draogn Ball beliefs thread?

The Time Traveller · Post by **The Time Traveller** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:24 pm

Khalid Shahin wrote:
The Time Traveller wrote:I remember looking for DBZ clips when I was younger, all I found was Quicktime videos that took FOREVER to load and RealTime videos of Goku being punched in the balls, and I thought his high pitch voice was from that...
Wow. Now that's something funny. Did you post this in the old Dragon Ball beliefs thread?

Nope, just got reminded now.

First time I must have actually seen the a Japanese movie was an old fan sub of movie 13, I didn't know who Gohan was through most of it, took me a while to get that, I thought Videl was like another Saiyan at the time, I should have probably posted this on there too. I figured she was Vegeta's sister or daughter, since her name started with V and she could fly. It made a lot of sense at the time.

I can't remember who I thought Trunks was, though I had a friend from Turkey who told me Trunks was Bulma and Vegeta's son, I didn't believe him of course.

I actually preferred the Japanese voices to the English, Goku just sounded right, I didn't even think that he was voiced by a woman.

I wouldn't count this as the first time I watched the Japanese version, I hadn't seen the series in Japanese, and had seen various clips online before, but I'd rather count the time I actually bought the DVDs of the series as the first time for me.

Milton · Post by **Milton** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 7:03 pm

Let's see...

I stopped watching dubbed Dragonball Z on a regular basis when I discovered fansubs for sale in my area around the fall of 1998. Before then, I watched the first two seasons of the Ocean dub religiously on my local Fox affiliate and eventually WB11 out of New York. It got to a point where I was watching two hours worth of DBZ every Sunday morning (usually on a big screen TV at my grandparent's, no less). I even followed the show on it's jump to Cartoon Network, but by then I was well aware of the Japanese version having bought movies 2 and 3 subbed as well as Legends for the Saturn.

The jump to the subtitled version was made official when I found a store at a new mall that sold a crap-ton of fansubs. I picked up exactly where the dub left off with the first three tapes I bought and just kept on buying more when I would get more money. Eventually, the news about season 3 was breaking everywhere on the internet, and I had heard about how awful the dub was now. Not really believing it, I tuned in and watched the new episodes after already knowing the Japanese version like the back of my hand. It was then that I could finally say, "Wow. Now I know how Chris Psaros felt while watching the Ocean dub." It felt like such a blow to see/hear the series presented in the way it was on CN. It felt so...foreign (no pun there).

From that point on, I pretty much gave up on the dub. I tuned in to watch some of the Cell Games, mostly because people were talking about how FUNi was handling Cell. He had some damn good lines and an amazing voice, so that was enough to sort of keep me interested. Other than that, I pretty much wrote the dub off entirely afterward.

As far as whether or not I'd be interested in a re-dub...not really. For one thing, it'd be even more of a DVD clusterfuck for both retailers and fans. For another, I've pretty much come to see the series as being good enough in its original language. It's how I've watched it for the past 10 years, and it's really the only recognizable version for me now. I rarely watch dubs anyway, and when I do it's usually with a series I either haven't been familiar with for so long, or something I think just sounds/flows better in English (but really, the only series I can ever think of that fall into that category are Cowboy Bebop and Big O).

SparkyPantsMcGee · Post by **SparkyPantsMcGee** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 7:27 pm

I tuned in to watch some of the Cell Games, mostly because people were talking about how FUNi was handling Cell. He had some damn good lines and an amazing voice

I have to say, Damian Clark is(Well was) my favorite Funimation VA.

Armymanis · Post by **Armymanis** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 7:40 pm

This is a great question! I have watched the English version of Dragonball Z and love it! I have never ever seen the Japanese original footage, but got the Dragonbox, so I will give it a chance in the English Dubbed Format. I really hope that its awesome.

I found that the English dubbed series was friken awesome! I was held on by every word and I have seen the English edited version of DBZ 3-5 times straight now. Now that the Dragonbox is out, I can look forward to watching the Uncut Dragonball Z in English audio 4:3 screen.

IncompetentOverlord · Post by **IncompetentOverlord** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 8:20 pm

Armymanis wrote:This is a great question! I have watched the English version of Dragonball Z and love it! I have never ever seen the Japanese original footage, but got the Dragonbox, so I will give it a chance in the English Dubbed Format. I really hope that its awesome.

I found that the English dubbed series was friken awesome! I was held on by every word and I have seen the English edited version of DBZ 3-5 times straight now. Now that the Dragonbox is out, I can look forward to watching the Uncut Dragonball Z in English audio 4:3 screen.

Ummm........ Isn't te title of this thread " A question for Sub fans"?

I watched DB/Z/GT in english for around my first four years of fandom. After a break, when I got back into it through the manga, I started watching my old DVDs in Japanese and liking it.

As for a redub, I'd watch it IF they recast it and rewrote it. I'm fine with Justin Cook's Raditz (In fact, it's the only dub voice I genuinely like), but that's about the only one I'm okay with keeping.

russ869 · Post by **russ869** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 5:51 pm

SHINOBI-03 wrote:My first anime DVDs were GT vol. 1 and DBZ Movie 8.

At that time, I thought what ever is said in the dub is the same in Japanese and didn't bother to switch the tracks. ((I wasn't even aware of different dub tracks at that time))

And when I gave it a try and switched to the Japanese track, my jaw fell to the floor and my eyes went out of my head the moment I saw the original opening theme of GT!!! I liked it instently and felt like I've discovered a hidden treasure under the toilet seat!! And after the opening, again, I was shoked to see the differences between the tracks!!

Ha ha...! This sounds a lot like the time when I first realized that my Funimation DVDs had alternate video angles on them (for Yuu Yuu Hakusho, and Fullmetal Alchemist). These were both shows where the dub was good enough that it never occurred to me to check out what the original Japanese was like, so I didn't have a clue that even the video was a little different if you played it with Japanese on.

Kendamu wrote:
obiwan23s wrote:Before FUNimation took exclusively took over the dub of Dragon Ball Z, there was a rather annoying trend on Toonami where DBZ would get to where Goku landed on Namek and then start over with Raditz the next day. After two or three cycles of this happening, I joined the online Z community, and on the DB3K.com forum, there was a link to a site which hosted direct downloads for every subbed Z episode in RealPlayer format. I was able get all of these and enjoy the remainder of the show, although in much more shoddy quality than modern fansubs have. This was pretty much the end of me caring about the Z dub.
I must'a been the only kid on the online block who didn't know about this. You can blame my manga elitism on my ignorance of this website.

Yeah, I remember as a kid that that was probably my first exposure to Dragon Ball. Toonami just kept showing like a marathon of the Namek episodes up until Goku arrives. Because of that I got the impression burned into me as a kid that Goku was training in that damn spaceship for like a hundred episodes. (In actuality I was surprised when I watch the arc through beginning to end recently that it wasn't nearly as long as I'd thought.)

I also remember downloading RealPlayer DBZ episodes from that same site among others. I first got into anime when I found these DBZ episodes while searching for Yu-Gi-Oh! episodes. For people with internet too pathetic for torrents, there was RealPlayer anime. And pretty soon I had found a huge variety of shows besides those of the Shonen Jump variety (Evangelion, FLCL, Ghost in the Shell, etc...).